Brussels, 02/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - The fight against climate change is at the heart of the current initiative in Brussels, “Green Week 2005” (EUROPE 8957) and provided the Commissioner for the environment Stavros Dimas will the opportunity to express expectations for the forthcoming G8 summit (Gleneagles, Scotland on 16 July) and his hope that “all the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention will soon reach agreement to open formal negotiations of a future climate change regime” for post-2012. Dimas also confirmed the European Commission goal of the EU expanding the Community system of emissions exchange quotas and that it gives a serious boost to innovation in ways for intensify green house gas emission reductions. Mr Dimas believes, however, that the fight against global warming will not be won by one method alone: it is single building block in the garden of the Americans, who are banking on this option alone, when the effort is urgently required from as many countries as possible.
In April, Stavros Dimas explained “I was in Washington, as part of the EU Troika, and was encouraged by the willingness of the US administration to discuss climate change issues with the EU”. He considers that the international seminar in Bonn (EUROPE 8951), although informal, marked a step in the right direction. Although Dimas is not counting on a miracle with regard to the next ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the USA he has “good hope that we can find common ground and achieve concrete results”.
During the press conference, Stavros Dimas explained that for the European Commission, the G8 under the British presidency would be a success for climate change if it resulted in a “concrete action plan” and not just a plan for promoting technology and research. The Commissioner declared that “technology and research is not enough”. He wants to see an exhaustive action plan including a variety of instruments: the means for reverting to flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, the promotion of renewable energies, increase in energy efficiency, adaptation policies and technology transfer to developing countries. The Commissioner did not create any illusions about this action plan's objective and time table, explaining that he would be more than happy if they achieved their goal but that it was at this stage impossible to say when it would be accomplished. This does not prevent the Commission beginning work on a new phase of the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) and for increasing European power in the emissions exchange market. The Commissioner declared that, “We need to include more policy areas: the scope of action must be widened to cover all greenhouse gases and all sectors, notably aviation, maritime transport and deforestation”. Alluding to the issue of aviation the Commissioner explained that this would possibly be examining this area but that it was unlikely that this would happen before 2012.